A Boy Named Ben
by Cuppa Char
Summary: Dean gives one of his most single worth prized possessions to a six year old kid.


A Boy Named Ben 1/1  
Summary: Dean gives one of his most single worth prized possessions to a six year old kid  
Pairing: Dean, Sam, original child (gen)  
PG13- language warning.  
A/N: O.K I make no excuses for this. I dreamt this the other night and have simply transcribed it to make it into a short story. So if it makes no sense, blame my dream gremlins. All i know is I woke up squeeing over the fact Sam was resting his chin on Dean's shoulder.  
Disclaimer: Supernatural and them guys are not mine. This is not for profit.

A Boy Named Ben

If he'd been told this time last week that he'd be giving one of his most single worth prized possessions to a six year old kid, he would thought they mad, but here he was doing just that.

"What's going on?"

"Rachel isn't Ben's biological mother"

"He's adopted?"

"Rachel has custody of him. He spends most of his time with her, but every now and then she's duty bound to let the Granger's have access to him".

"I didn't spend a week saving his ass so that he could be pushed from pillar to post"

"Hey, Rachel's the good guy in this sorry mess"

"And you are?" Dean asked, whirling around and facing the unidentified man behind him.

"Gerald Jones – Rachel's lawyer" the man replied, offering his hand out in greeting.

Dean ignored it and let his distaste show with an upturned top lip.

"Yeah, you would say that" he said, turning back to continue watching.

"Listen, the only reason the Granger's are here" Gerald insisted, "Is because Rachel felt obliged to inform them of Ben's disappearance. They didn't do anything to help and then when you called to say he was o.k. she rang them to say you'd found him".

"And they turn up with mass media and press?!" Dean gritted out, obvious anger and disgust written over his tense face, as he continued to watch the Granger's pose for photographers, flashbulbs going off in quick successions and questions flying.

They were safely tucked away in the innocuous crowd. Anonymous within the throng. It wasn't like they needed the exposure.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rachel with Ben and again his anger simmered and threatened to burn him from the inside out. The Granger's hadn't even bothered to talk to their son, instead focusing on the attention of the press, leaving Rachel to deal with the somewhat befuddled child.

And then Rachel was suddenly nodding at someone, tugging at Ben's arm, pulling him close as she headed further away from the crowd of onlookers , press and the Granger's and he found himself extricating his body out of the scattered gathering of people, pushing past a couple of women murmuring between themselves.

"Dean, where are you going?" he heard Sam quietly call after him.

Once he was safely away from the crowd, he picked up speed, catching sight of Rachel's face in the driver's seat of a SUV, and he quickened further, stumbling as his hand shot to the car door. Pulling hard, he let the back door swing open and back hard, revealing his slightly out of breath body to the occupants.

"Dean!" Rachel said startled, turning in her seat, one arm outstretched to the boy, "You scared me".

"Dean!" the boy replied with more enthusiasm, breaking into a wide, energised smile, "I thought you had gone".

"Sorry" he said apologising, "Not me kid. Couldn't let you go without giving you a proper goodbye".

Ben's smile lit up even more and he beamed at Dean, eyes shining as though Superman or Batman, or whatever superhero this kid was into, had come back for one last, final word.

"Is this o.k.?" Dean asked, glancing at Rachel, as she turned on her seat so that she saw now kneeing, head poking between the two front seats. She smiled and nodded.

He turned and looked back at Ben who continued to look at him in awe. It was the same look that he had been giving him for the last few hours, ever since Dean had turned and grabbed at him, hands searching for cuts or bleeding. The same look that had done nothing to help the hammering fear that had eaten at him, even after he and Sam made sure the danger was finally gone, and had left him, according to Sam _'like a pissed off and scared parent'._

"I just… I wanted to" he struggled to find the words, "I wanted to give you something before you left".

He reached, fingers nervously running around his neck as he separated the two pieces of thread, leaving his protective amulet in place. His fingers found the knot for the second one, and he tugged at it, surprised at how easily it had come undone. He let the thread and pendant pool in his hand and his fingers clasped tightly around it.

"I'm getting a present?" Ben asked, eyes going wide at the mere thought.

Dean glanced up, a smirk on his face, as he cleared his throat.

"When someone is important to you… when you care about someone" he stumbled again, his throat constricting, his body not used to the words, especially to a child, "When you care about someone, you give them something that is important to you".

He reached forwards, taking Ben's hand in his own, and slowly let the pendant drop into his palm. He let Ben study it for a second, before gently pushing his fingers around it, cupping it tightly within his grasp.

If he'd been told this time last week that he'd be giving one of his most single worth prized possessions to a six year old kid, he would thought they mad, but here he was doing just that.

"This was given to me by my mom before she died" he managed to say, feeling hot tears prick at the back of his eyes but he'd be damned if was going to cry in front of a kid.

He heard Rachel gasp and he glanced at her to see that her hand was resting over her mouth, her own eyes shining with the tears that he couldn't give in to.

"So, it's, umm" he continued, turning back to Ben, "At least 22 years old"

"Wow" Ben murmured looking between his hand and Dean, "That's old!"

"Benjamin" Rachel scolded, "That's not how you say thank you".

Ben suddenly took Dean by surprise, throwing his arms around him, half standing, half bent in the back of the car. Dean found himself enveloped by the small child with two stick thin arms and a bouncing head with large dopey eyes and a beautiful smile.

He remembered now, why this boy meant so much to him; he reminded him of Sam. When they had returned back to the run down building that was only a stone throw away from the car-park that they were now in, the fear and anger and Ben's absolute awe had him at a dangerous precipice. He had snapped, no yelled, at Ben and told him to wait upstairs until Rachel had arrived. Ben had shrunk back at the sudden anger and slowly, hesitatingly, made his way up the first flight of stairs. Sam had thrown a blend of anger and concern at him and quickly followed the child, stalling him at the top of the first flight, bending close and whispering quietly.

Dean knew Sam knew that the hunt had affected him much more than usual. How he had stood frozen, ice and fire creeping from stomach and burning his throat, at the sight of Ben caught in the direct line of the beast, which was rapidly coming in for its kill. It finally found its prey after a week of Ben's scent and his two young protectors on the run.

Dean had reached forward, hand snagging tightly into the back of Ben's jacket, and he had propelled him backwards. He had, in one swift movement put himself between the prey and the hunter. But the beast, the monstrous creature that enjoyed hunting and massacring small children for the thrill of the scent and the taste of their blood, did not get any further. With Ben safely tucked up close to the back of him, Dean had brought his gun up decisively and with one well targeted and fierce aim, shot it right through the head, it's ugly body dropping to the floor.

And Dean had turned, examining him close with urgent fingers and words of reassurances, just as though he was his own kid brother or son.

And the kid had looked back in awe…

Dean had blinked up at Sam and Ben, still in the stairwell of the disused building, as Sam bent and continued to murmur in the kid's ear. Ben had pulled away and nodded at Sam, before walking back down and across the dusty floor. He took hold of Dean's hand, a slid his fingers tightly between his.

"It's o.k." he had said quietly and Dean had just shaken his head and grinned down at him.

He blinked back to the present, Ben's body still pressed tightly against him, and he laughed nervously.

"It's o.k. kid" he said, pushing away, grinning at him, "When you're older, or when you think you're ready, you might have someone whose important to you… you know someone you might want to give it to".

Ben fell back into his own seat and looked down at the pendant.

"Like a girlfriend or something" he continued and caught the mock glare from Rachel as she continued to look at them from her uncomfortable position.

He grinned back at her and turned slightly, sliding one arm around Ben's small shoulders, pulling him into his chest, as he lowered his head and murmured, "And I have had plenty of those, so I guess that makes you special".

He pushed Ben back, sliding and clasping the seat belt around him.

"So, I guess I better let you go".

Rachel smiled at him and nodded.

"Thanks Dean" she said, "For everything".

"It was no problem" Dean insisted, feeling the same embarrassed uncomfortable feeling he'd had when saying goodbye to Andrea and Lucas earlier that year. "You got a great kid here".

"Yeah, I have" she said, nodding and smiling happily as she turned in her seat, "Bye".

"Bye Rachel" he said and then turned to Ben, ruffling his hair with his hand, "See you around kid".

"Yeah, see you around Dean" Ben said, smiling eagerly back at him.

Dean let the door of the SUV close, hand ghosting over the cool frame, as he felt the vibration of the engine run up his arm. As it slowly pulled away, he pinched the bridge of his nose, turning to find Sam making his way across deserted concreted room.

"What's…?" Sam asked.

"Oh shit" Dean began, "If you want to say goodbye, you better be quick".

Sam's eyes widened and then he was off after the car, his long legs and strides not too far behind the slow, steady progress of the SUV as it made it's way around a sharp bend.

Dean walked in an opposite direction, exiting the run down car park through a fire exit between the area he had just been in and the crowd still gathered around the Granger's.

He walked across the small grassed park outside of the building, which he still thought was out of place being attached to two dissolute buildings, and dropped down on the bench.

He could see that Rachel's SUV had not yet exited the old car park so he guessed that Sam had caught up with them.

He waited on the bench, surveying the teens playing soccer to his left and the comings and goings of people walking across the vibrant green grass to his right, some hand in hand, some with kids, but all, seemingly happy and caught up in their own worlds.

When the SUV finally appeared on the track, so did Sam, he too exiting the car park. He made his way across the grassed area, stopping once to dribble the soccer ball before passing it back to the young boys, of 16 or 17 years of age. Dean, knew the look on his face though as he recognised it being present on his own only a few minutes before, and realised he was stalling time before coming face to face with his brother again.

Dean's heart suddenly sped up and he wondered, briefly if he'd made a mistake. Should he have kept the pendent as a reminder of his mother, a memory to cherish, should he have kept it in hope that one day he would have someone to love and live with, and if that possible would he have a family and kids one day… should he have given it to Sam, his brother, the most important person in his life.

Sam sat down beside him as Dean watched the SUV finally disappear around the corner of the park, its metal frame glinting in the sun, before blinking out completely.

"I think I might have just made a mistake" Dean said quietly, chewing on his lip.

"What?" Sam asked, turning to him.

"I gave Ben my pendant" Dean admitted, "The one that mom gave me".

He turned and found Sam's face looming in close to his.

"No" Sam said, his chin bobbing up and down on Dean's shoulder as he spoke, the words soft and reassuring as the fluttered across his cheek and ear, "That's awesome".

finis


End file.
